Alfred Newman »
On a High and Windy Hill
Following the success of Dimitri Tiomkin’s title song for HIGH NOON, whose popularity prior to the film’s release marketed it to box office bucks (and no doubt helped him win the Oscar), producers scrambled
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Anastasia (1956)
After fleeing her family and running off with Italian director Roberto Rossellini, scandalizing the film community, Ingrid Bergman was welcomed back into Hollywood’s bosom in 1956 with her dramatic performance in ANASTASIA. Bergman won
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CD Review: Captain from Castile – The Classic Film Scores of Alfred Newman
If you’ve read this blog for any reasonable amount of time, you already know of my love for Alfred Newman. Newman’s music speaks to me in a way that no other composer–Golden Age or
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Captain from Castile
Alfred Newman conquered film music yet again with 1947′s CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE. The colorful score combines the robust energy of its Spanish and Mexican locales for the tale of Pedro De Vargas (Tyrone Power), a young Castillian
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My Guardian Angel
ALFRED NEWMAN guards my apartment. In my entryway, a framed, bronze, first-day-issue Newman postage stamp welcomes visitors. This used to sit on my desk but it often got lost among the CDs, papers, To
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I Can See Clearly Now
For a heathen like me, films with religious overtones are usually best when played for their camp entertainment value, a la THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Something where the spectacle overwhelms anything overtly pious. Personal religious
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How Green Was My Valley
Today, HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY is known as the film that most cinephiles believe “undeservedly” won the 1941 Best Picture prize over CITIZEN KANE. While VALLEY may not be a groundbreaking film, it
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Flight Delay
AIRPORT was the beginning and the end. The beginning of a successful franchise and the disaster movie genre of the 1970′s. And the end of one of the most influential film composers of all
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The Promised Land
When THIS IS CINERAMA was released in 1952, critics called it “The answer to television!” Cinerama was a new process in which three camera magazines were mounted as one. The 27-millimeter lenses, which filmed three separate
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The Dearness of You
I may not have been pleased with the packaging of 20th Century Fox’s 50th anniversary DVD of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, but the power of George Stevens’ film and Alfred Newman’s score remain
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